⚙️Configuration Reference

Reference for AskGov configuration options and environment variables

AskGov uses environment variables for configuration, making it easy to deploy across different environments without code changes. This reference documents those configuration options.

Security Note: Never commit .env files containing secrets to version control. Use secure secret management systems in production.

Configuration Categories

1. Core Application

2. Database

3. Authentication & Security

4. Email Service

5. Search Engine (Weaviate)

6. Monitoring & Analytics

7. Feature Flags (using Growthbook)

8. Third-party Services

Core Application

Basic Settings

Variable	Required	Default	Description
NODE_ENV	Yes	development	Environment: development, staging, production
PORT	No	8080	Port for the application server
FRONTEND_URL	Yes	http://localhost:8080	Public URL of your AskGov instance
SESSION_SECRET	Yes	-	Secret key for session encryption (min 32 chars)

Example Configuration

NODE_ENV=production
PORT=8080
FRONTEND_URL=https://ask.yourgov.com
SESSION_SECRET=your-very-long-random-session-secret-key-here-minimum-32-characters

Application Behavior

Variable	Required	Default	Description
SOME_CONFIG_HERE	Yes/No	100	Example: Maximum requests per window

Database

CockroachDB Configuration

Variable	Required	Default	Description
DATABASE_URL	Yes	-	PostgreSQL connection string

Connection String Format

# Standard PostgreSQL format
DATABASE_URL=postgresql://username:password@host:port/database?sslmode=require

# CockroachDB cluster example
DATABASE_URL=postgresql://user:[email protected]:26257/askgov?sslmode=require

# Local development
DATABASE_URL=postgresql://root@localhost:26257/askgov?sslmode=disable

Authentication & Security

OTP Configuration

Variable	Required	Default	Description
OTP_SECRET	Yes		Secreet used for generating OTP

CAPTCHA

Variable	Required	Default	Description
RECAPTCHA_SITE_KEY	If enabled	-	reCAPTCHA site key
RECAPTCHA_SECRET_KEY	If enabled	-	reCAPTCHA secret key

Email Service

SMTP Configuration

PostmanGovSG Configuration

Variable	Required	Default	Description
POSTMANGOVSG_API_KEY	If Postman	-	PostmanGovSG API key
POSTMANGOVSG_API_URL	No	Production URL	API endpoint

Search Engine (Weaviate)

Weaviate Connection

Variable	Required	Default	Description
WEAVIATE_INSTANCE	If enabled	-	Weaviate instance URL
WEAVIATE_API_KEY	If enabled	-	Weaviate API key
WEAVIATE_COHERE_CLASS	If enabled	-	Cohere class for embedding

Vectorization Configuration

Variable	Required	Default	Description
VECTORIZER_API_KEY	No	-	API key for vectorizer

Monitoring & Analytics

Application Monitoring

Variable	Required	Default	Description
DATADOG_CLIENT_TOKEN	If enabled	-	Datadog client token

Logging

Variable	Required	Default	Description
LOG_LEVEL	No	info	Level: debug, info, warn, error

Redis Cache

Variable	Required	Default	Description
REDIS_URL	Yes	-	Redis connection URL

Feature Flags

Feature flag is managed by growthbook.

Variable	Required	Default	Description
GROWTHBOOK_CLIENT_KEY	Yes	-	Client SDK key

Environment-Specific Configurations

Development Environment

# .env.development
<put example here>

---

Next Steps

• For deployment: See AWS Production Guide

• For customization: Check Component Customization

• For security: Review Security Guide